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“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”


Friday, June 9, 2006

Bible Abuse

By ignorant "Christians" in New Zealand:

Conservative Christian groups say they will be forced to break the law if Parliament stops allowing the reasonable use of force to discipline children.

[snip]

"Christians in general are law-abiding people. They pay taxes even though they might not agree with what their taxes are spent on," he said.

"But when you have a case where the law of the Bible and the law of the land conflict, they are forced to obey the law of the Bible.

Um, that's not what "suffer the children" means.

But seriously, I've never understood this. My mother--a devout Catholic, knows the Bible--never hit us. Never felt she had to. And--shock!--my sister and I turned out to be reasonable, well-behaved people. It's not that we were never punished, but the punishments were non-violent. Grounding, no tv, etc. Taking away privileges. Which, I guess, worked. But she never had to beat us into submission.

Somehow, I think she's the better Christian here.

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posted by Mary, 12:35 PM

Is It Hot In Here?

I read a story like this:

Some of America's leading climate scientists claim to Panorama that they have been censored and gagged by the administration.

One of them believes the publication of his report, which catalogues the unprecedented rate of ice melt in the Arctic, was delayed as Americans prepared to vote in 2004.

The scientists claim that when Bush came to power in 2000 his administration selected advice which argued that global warming was not a result of human activities and that the phenomenon could be natural.

"Oh," I can here people say, "Those scientists are just paranoid. And besides, it's the BBC, they hate America."

But then I read this story:

NASA is canceling or delaying a number of satellites designed to give scientists critical information on the earth's changing climate and environment.

The space agency has shelved a $200 million satellite mission headed by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor that was designed to measure soil moisture -- a key factor in helping scientists understand the impact of global warming and predict droughts and floods. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, intended to observe climate factors such as solar radiation, ozone, clouds, and water vapor more comprehensively than existing satellites, also has been canceled.

And in its 2007 budget, NASA proposes significant delays in a global precipitation measuring mission to help with weather predictions, as well as the launch of a satellite designed to increase the timeliness and accuracy of severe weather forecasts and improve climate models.

Oh, no, they aren't related at all.

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posted by Mary, 12:30 PM

Monday, June 5, 2006

The Coolest Thing You'll See Today

It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair... Is there life on Mars?

And if that doesn't blow your mind, check out this. And even better, Earth, Moon, and Jupiter from Mars.

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posted by Mary, 11:45 AM